Dashed Dreams
by Awesomenesss-sama
Summary: Rainbow Dash has been keeping a secret from most of her friends, one that is quickly becoming heavier to carry as she watches Scootaloo cry more and more often. (Rated T to be safe) Slight TwiDash.
1. Chapter 1

I watched as Scootaloo sat alone crying. This happens a lot after two school yard fillies bullied her; she'd put up an act until she found some alone time where she could just let out all of her emotions, and it'd never fail to bring tears to my eyes. I wanted to fly down and support her so much, but she didn't deserve that, not after what I had done.

You see, I'm that little filly's mother, who gave her up to the orphanage. I wanted to keep her so bad, but my reputation as Rainbow Dash, Cloudsdale's best solo flier would be put at risk. I was so young when it happened; only fifteen years of living and I had become a mother because me and some colt wanted to mess around. Now in my mid-twenties, I've realized that I should have dropped my reputation and raised her myself.

Yeah, now that you know who I am, you're probably wondering how I can be the mother of Scootaloo since she doesn't really have any of my colors. You see, she gets her looks from her father, but I managed to give her a color other than that hideous shade of blue in HIS mane. Come on, guess who the father is, I've given you plenty of hints; orange coat, blue mane, Pegasus, need I say more? You all know him even though he's only ever shown his face once or twice. If you haven't guessed yet, you're an idiot; the colt's name is Flash Sentry.

Anyway, back in this sad reality, Scootaloo has fallen asleep inside the Cutie Mark Crusaider's club house. I sighed and flew down to her before gently picking her up and placing her on my back, opening my wings to make sure she didn't fall off. Walking the entire way, I went to Applejack's house.

"Rainbow..." Applejack stared at me when she opened her front door.

"What?" I sniffed, okay, I may or may not have been crying quietly during my trip to the Apple family's house.

"...you cant do this forever" Applejack sighed as she let me in, "I don't think your body can take it."

"I know" I agreed, "but what do you suppose I do? She doesn't deserve a mom like me."

"I think you'd make a great mom, RD" Applejack assured, she was the only one of my friends that I had told about Scootaloo, "but since you've seemed to make up your mind, I wont bother you about it."

"I know" I repeated, carefully handing my daughter over to Applejack.

Applejack took Scootaloo up to Applebloom's room and put the filly to bed before coming back downstairs, only to see me curled onto the couch, sobbing as quietly as I could manage.

"Oh Rainbow" Applejack mumbled before trotting up to me, "look, I know you don't want Scootaloo to find out about your relationship the hard way, but at least tell Twilight about this. She's the smartest pony we know, she might be able to give you some advice."

"You think so?" I wondered hopefully.

"I know so. And if you're worried about the secret spreading, don't; Twilight can keep a secret" Applejack assured.

I thought about it for a second before nodding, there wasn't really a way this could go badly; Twilight is the princess of friendship, she wouldn't exactly abandon a friend in need.

Applejack smiled slightly before writing a note for Scootaloo and following me out the door to escort me to Twilight's crystal castle, which actually looked a little demonic in this light...I blamed that on my sudden unknown nervousness.

"You alright RD?" Applejack asked after she knocked on the large crystal door, I guess she knew full well that I wouldn't have a breakdown in public.

"Yeah, I'm fine" I smiled, I had no idea what my nervousness was about, but it was nothing compared to what's been happening lately so I decided to ignore it for now.

Twilight opened the door and let us inside, where she lead us to her library; one of her favorite rooms simply because it was so full of books that it made the room three times smaller.

"So, why the sudden visit, girls?" Twilight wondered.

"RD has been feeling a little down, she wants to tell you why" Applejack explained for me, giving me something to start off with.

Twilight looked at me, worried.

"It's about...my daughter" I began, a look of surprise crossed Twilight's face, but she let me continue, "...Scootaloo."

* * *

 _ **Chapter 1. Yes, I ended the first chapter with a cliff-hanger, what'cha gonna do 'bout it? Because I hope you plan on reviewing. I am very eager to write this story, as I have been in such a good mood lately that I want to write about depression ^.^**_

 _ **Yeah, I have no clue how that works out, but here you go.**_


	2. Chapter 2

"Scootaloo's your daughter?!" Twilight exclaimed, jumping forward and spreading her wings in surprise.

"Yeah..." I nodded, rubbing my neck, "I know it's a little hart to believe, but it's true. I had Scootaloo when I was fifteen and gave her up for adoption to save my reputation...and now I wish I didn't..."

Twilight stared at me with worry visible in her eyes, "why cant you just adopt her?"

"She doesn't deserve a mother like me" I felt tears form in my eyes.

"Yes, she does" Twilight argued, "she's your daughter! You were young when it happened, anypony would have done the same."

"It doesn't matter what anypony else would do, this is about what I did" I sobbed, Applejack put her hoof around me for support, "and I did something bad. What's worse, I cant help her! She's being bullied by two fillies at her school, and she cries as soon as she gets the chance to be alone!"

"Rainbow..." Twilight gasped, there was a pause before her face went hard and she levitated a book, making it slap across my face.

"Twilight!" Applejack reprimanded.

"Why...?" I mumbled.

"Rainbow Dash! I'm disappointed!" Twilight shouted, ignoring Applejack's own exclamation, "there's a little filly being bullied and you just watch and blame yourself!? That has nothing to do with you being her mother! You should be down there supporting her!"

Applejack and I stared at the princess of friendship as she took a deep breath and eased her frustrations, "look, I'm sorry I hit you...but you really shouldn't be leaving a filly in such a state...this isn't about how you feel about yourself, Scootaloo is young, and in this situation she needs at least a mother figure. Next chance you get, I want you to go talk to her. It's your choice to tell her about her relations to you, but I want you to think about it."

"I have been thinking about it. I've been thinking about it ever since I gave her up..." I sighed, "I feel horrible."

"So you're feeling guilty?" Twilight asked for confirmation, "look Rainbow, feeling guilty means you never wanted to give her up in the first place. You were a brilliant mother from the beginning."

I felt so confused, I knew Twilight was right but I still couldn't encourage myself enough to go to my daughter. In the end I found myself letting tears fall down my face.

Applejack let go of the one hoofed hug when Twilight opened her own for me. There wasn't that much of a distance, but I still got up and ran to her as fast as I could.

"If you want, I could go with you to tell her" Twilight offered, still hugging me.

"Tomorrow" I sniffed, "tomorrow I'll tell her."

Twilight nodded her approval and gave me a reassuring smile, "it'll be alright."

* * *

 _ **Here you go, I know it's short, but I got two reviews and I wanted to show my gratitude ^.^**_


	3. Chapter 3

The next day, Twilight and I flew to the school Scootaloo was going to and waited for the filly's class to end.

"The next thing we shou-" Scootaloo stopped chattering to her friends when she noticed us standing at the gate, "Rainbow Dash?"

"...Hey kid" I smiled at my daughter, "I know you probably had plans, but I need to borrow you for the afternoon."

Scootaloo looked at her friends, they nodded and waved, giving their approval, "Alright!"

I grinned and bent down so the little filly could jump onto my back.

"Bye guys!" Scootaloo waved as Twilight and I took off.

I flew at a steady pace to let Twilight keep up and make sure that Scootaloo wouldn't fall off. Eventually we landed on a high up cloud where no other pegasai were flying to.

"Why'd you bring us up here?" Scootaloo wondered, looking over the edge of the cloud.

"Because...I have something to tell you" I rubbed the back of my neck and looked over to Twilight for help, Twilight smiled and gave me a supporting nudge with her head, which made me feel a little funny.

"...Well..." Scootaloo waited awkwardly while Twilight and I were a little dazed, "...ummm...what is it?"

I sat down before replying, "I'm your mother."

"Eh?" Scootaloo blinked.

"I'm your mother" I repeated, "your real mother, the one who gave you to the orphanage in the first place."

"EH?!" Scootaloo squeaked.

"When you were born...I was pretty young...only five years older than you are right now" I explained, "I panicked and...well, I didn't want to ruin my reputation so...I gave you up. It was the worst mistake I've ever made."

"What about my dad?" Scootaloo wondered, Twilight was obviously impressed by the fact that she was taking it so well; we both were.

"He's...gone. He never knew I was pregnant with you; he took off before I could tell him" I was struggling to keep the filly's innocence intact, I didn't exactly want my daughter to know about things like one-night-stands and such.

"Oh..." Scootaloo mumbled, sitting down too...it didn't take long for her to get her energy back though, "but I have a mom!"

I smiled as my daughter started cheering and squealing.

"This is so awesome! I've gotta go tell Applebloom and Sweetie Bell!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Juuuust wait a minute, kid" I laughed, "I'm glad to hear you're not mad at me or anything, so don't get me wrong, but you're not even just a liiiittle angry?"

"Nope! Everypony makes mistakes!" Scootaloo grinned.

Twilight smiled, realizing that other ponies were also learning things about friendship.

"Are you sure?" I questioned, "because I'm really sorry. I feel like I'm the worst mother eve-"

Scootaloo cut me off with a hug, completely ridding me of any doubts about my daughter's feelings towards me. I hugged back.

"Come on, let's go get you out of that orphanage" I suggested.

"You mean it?!" Scootaloo cheered.

"Would I joke about something like this?" I asked back, "of course I mean it."

"Yay!" Scootaloo cried, jumping off the cloud.

Twilight and I ran to look over the cloud, worried about the filly, only to see her gently floating down.

"Whoa! You can fly now?!" I asked excitedly.

"No, not yet" Scootaloo shook her head, "this is the most I can do right now."

I looked and noticed that Scootaloo's wings really were a little larger than the last time I'd made note of them, "your wings are growing though, I think you'll be up in the clouds in no time!"

"Really?!" Scootaloo squeaked, nearly missing a beat of her wings.

"Of course!" I grinned.

"She's right" Twilight agreed, "at the rate they're growing, I'm sure you'll be able to be a strong flier in the next few months. And who knows, from the look of it, they're going to be bigger and stronger than any other filly your age by the end of the year!"

"Really?!" Scootaloo was really excited now.

"I knew it'd happen" I smiled, "after all, you're my daughter! And any daughter of mine is going to have strong wings, late bloomer or otherwise!"

"Just don't forget to drink lots of milk" Twilight reminded, "for your bones."

We landed on the ground and Scootaloo immediately took off towards the club house at full speed, I had to start flying again to keep up with her. Twilight seemed fine with keeping up though, it probably had something to do with the fact that she used to only be a unicorn.

* * *

 ** _Hey guys! I really derped up this chapter XD_**

 ** _I was just about to publish when I realized that I had written it all in THIRD PERSON! Pfff, I'm so stupid. Anyways, this is the reason for why it took a little while. Sorry._**


	4. Chapter 4

When we arrived at the CMC's club house, Scootaloo asked us to wait outside while she was inside talking to her friends, leaving Twilight and I alone. For some reason this fact bothered me, and I started feeling nervous.

"Rainbow?" Twilight blinked, looking at me, "are you alright?"

Shoot, she noticed. I rubbed my neck, "u-uh...um...yeah, I-I'm fine! Why wouldn't I be?"

"You were starting to get really fidgety. I know you're used to being up and moving about a lot, but this is different for you; you're rarely ever this nervous."

"Who said I was nervous" I twitched a little.

"...is something wrong? Is it about Scootaloo?" Twilight wondered.

"Uh...no, I don't think it is...it comes and goes really" I half-lied, yes, it comes and goes, but only around Twilight. Anypony else and I'm A-OK.

"...Alright" Twilight gave in, "but please try to tell me if you find out what it is. I think keeping that secret from Scootaloo was enough pressure to last a lifetime."

"Yeah Twi, I promise" I made the gesture of a Pinkie promise and tried to relax a little.

The next day, Scootaloo finished moving in with me and I signed the official guardian papers.

"So, what do you want to do now?" I wondered, sitting down on the stairs that lead to the second floor.

"I wanna practice flying!" Scootaloo grinned.

"Scoot, Twilight said you'd be able to fly in a couple of MONTHS, not days" I laughed.

"I know, I know, but I can't wait!" Scootaloo jumped up and down impatiently.

"Come on, I've got something that might take your mind off of it" I smiled, "just...don't go telling Twilight about this, alright?"

"About what?" Scootaloo wondered as I lead her down to the basement.

"This" I replied, nudging a box to the side and revealing a well lit secret room full of books.

"Whoa!" Scootaloo exclaimed, managing to get a few centimeters off the ground as she buzzed into the room.

"Be careful with these books, alright? They're all rare and limited edition" I worried, "I've been flying all around Equestria collecting these."

"For how long?" Scootaloo wondered.

"Ever since I gave you up" I sighed, "afterwards I just didn't have the spirit to join any races or anything, so I decided to get a different hobby; book hoarding. I never read any of the books when I was collecting them, but two years ago when Twilight got me into the Daring Do series I decided to give it a shot."

"Cool!" Scootaloo grinned.

With that, Scootaloo and I poured ourselves into the books for the next three months. Scootaloo had managed to perfect the art of reading while trying to fly, which had lead to my collection being almost discovered by Twilight on more than one occasion, luckily Scootaloo had managed to convince her she was getting all these books from Applejack. When Twilight questioned Applejack about this...well...her lying wasn't so efficient, saying she found them at the castle of the two sisters.

"Why hadn't I thought of that?!" I gawked when Scootaloo had reported this information to me.

"Huh?" Scootaloo blinked.

"The castle of the two sisters is REALLY old! And the library there would have so many books worthy of my collection!" I grinned, rubbing my hooves together...okay, so maybe I was a little obsessed with book hoarding.

"Well Twilight's going there right now to see if she can find some rare books too!" Scootaloo exclaimed, "when she's done there wont be any left for you!" I'm glad Scootaloo was on my side.

"Hop on, kid" I bent down so my daughter could climb onto my back, "I'm gonna need you to distract Twilight while I get all the good books."

Scootaloo nodded and I dropped her off a little ways ahead from Twilight.

"Scootaloo?" Twilight blinked.

"Twilight! Thank Celestia you're here!" Scootaloo sounded relieved, maybe she'd get a cutie mark in acting, "I'm lost!"

"Ah! Don't worry Scootaloo!" Twilight ran to the filly, "I'll walk you back to Ponyville."

This is great! I'd have tons of time too get the books! I smirked and flew up to the clouds.

At the castle of the two sisters, I was expertly reading the spines of the books along each row. The books that looked cool went on a cloud I brought along with me, the books that didn't look cool or the books that I already had stayed on the shelf. I tried to leave some cool ones behind for Twilight, but it was a little hard not to grab every book off the shelf.

I heard a creaking sound and then a slam of the doors, notifying me of Twilight's presence in the castle. I grabbed a couple more books at random, stored them on my cloud, and then flew out of a whole in the roof with the cloud tied to my waist.

I picked Scootaloo up from the park where Twilight had left her and sped all the way back to my place. Scootaloo was sitting on the cloud watching over the books just in case one fell off.

"These are awesome, mom!" Scootaloo grinned, looking over the newest additions to my collection, one in particular caught her interest; _pegasi magic_. "Hey! Can I read this one first?!"

"Sure, just be careful with it, that book is over a thousand years old" I warned.

"Don't worry, I will!" Scootaloo yipped, fluttering out of the room with her slightly larger wings.

* * *

 _ **Here it is folks! A 'nice' chapter! Nothing too sad about it like the others, but don't worry! I'm gonna try and make this story as depressing as possible!**_


	5. Chapter 5

I smiled at my daughter as I flew down to meet my friends. They were surprised to find out about mine and Scootaloo's relation to each other, but afterwards they happily accepted the fact. Right now we were going to have a pet play-date, and Tank was following steadily behind us. Scootaloo had asked if she could have a pet too, and I decided to ask Fluttershy about the matter today.

"A pet?" Fluttershy asked excitedly...if you could call that 'excitement', "really?"

"Yeah" I nodded, "Scootaloo wanted to bring one on the play-date today. I said she could bring Tank but she said that she didn't want to steal my pet."

"Hmm, well I'm guessing you'd prefer to have one that flies and is easy to take care of, right?" Fluttershy wondered.

"Yep, that'd be great" I grinned.

"I'll see what I can do" Fluttershy smiled back.

"Great! Thanks!" I waved, flying over to where Twilight was sitting.

"What was that about?" Twilight wondered.

"Scootaloo wants a pet" I explained.

"Oh, alright" Twilight nodded, "hey, did you know that Applejack is lending Scootaloo ancient books she found in the castle of the two sisters?"

"Really?" I pretended to be shocked, "huh, I wonder why she didn't say anything to me."

"Maybe Scootaloo's ashamed to be reading books!" Twilight gasped, standing up, "oh, I'll go talk to her."

"Ah! There's no need for that!" I exclaimed, pulling Twilight back down.

"Huh?" Twilight blinked.

"Ah, uh...um...I'll talk to her later" I rubbed my neck, embarrassed at the fact that I shouted so loudly, "she might not listen to you...you're not exactly her mother..."

"True" Twilight agreed, "maybe you could show her your collection of the Daring Do series."

I tried not to tell Twilight about the fact that Scootaloo had not only seen my collection, but read it all too.

"Yeah, heh heh...maybe..." I laughed nervously, Twilight remained oblivious.

"Speaking of which, I'm rereading the entire series and you bought the only copy of book eight that I had" Twilight said, "could I borrow yours?"

"Yeah, sure" I managed to keep calm this time.

"Great! I can go with you to your place and pick it up right after this!" Twilight smiled.

"What?!" I squeaked, remembering the stacks upon stacks of my ancient books that I had left out.

"I said-" I cut Twilight off.

"No, uh...I know what you said, but my house is...uh...kind of a mess" I tried to find a good excuse that could keep Twilight out.

"Oh Rainbow, I'm sure I wont mind" Twilight reassured.

"Uh, yeah, but...uh...I'd rather that you didn't come in" I was running out of ideas fast, "no guest should see anything like that huge mess."

"Rainbow, I'm your friend" Twilight laughed, "not a guest. I really wont mind the mess."

"Uh" I looked around, "uh..."

"Rainbow?" Twilight became worried, "are you alright?"

"I gotta go talk to Scoots, bye!" I said quickly, I swear I nearly did a sonic rainboom when I hurried over to my daughter.

"Hi mom!" Scootaloo waved, looking up from playing with Applejack's dog.

"Twilight is coming over right after this, I need you to hurry home and clean up the 'mess'" I instructed.

"Alright!" Scootaloo nodded, waving to Applejack and taking off, her wings now allowed her to go up, but she became very exhausted if she flew up to our place herself. I had to give her time to take a break as well as get to cleaning up the books.

"Where's Scootaloo off to?" Twilight wondered, teleporting behind me and scaring me.

"Um, she wanted to go get something to eat" I lied, "she said she'll wait for us at my place."

I tried to stall for as long as possible, but I found myself following behind an all-too excited Twilight, wanting to tare my brain out.

Twilight jumped ahead and opened the front door as if she lived with us, I really hoped that Scootaloo had managed to put all the books away.

"They're in your basement, right?" Twilight asked, "oh, what am I saying. It's the entire series, and there are so many books you'd have to keep them in a place like that. I'll just go get them."

I couldn't even land, my wings were flapping so quickly that it was impossible.

"Scootaloo" I called.

"I'm...sorry...mom" Scootaloo breathed, "I-I tried to put everything away, but I nearly broke some from carrying too much at once and I decided to only take two at a time and-"

"Don't worry about it Scootaloo" I sighed, dropping out of the air, giving up, "I'm sorry I had to make you do all that for nothing."

"She found them?" Scootaloo sighed too.

We both visibly sagged when we heard Twilight's excited and shocked squeal.

"We didn't even get to read them all" Scootaloo mumbled.

"I was in the middle of a climax in one of them...now I don't know what'll happen" I groaned.

"And you never will" Scootaloo added, rolling onto her back.

"This is amazing!" Twilight squealed, galloping up to Rainbow Dash as she levitated some books, "Rainbow! Rainbow! Did you know this was here?!"

"Yes, I did" I sighed, rolling onto my stomach...until I noticed one of the books Twilight was waving around.

"This is so co-" I cut Twilight off by leaping for the book that I had seen.

"Careful! This is one of the rarest books I own!" I scolded.

"...You own these? All of them?" Twilight gasped.

"Yes, and they're all really old and rare" I said, taking the other three books that she was levitating out of the air, "you have to be careful with them!"

Twilight blinked in shock and sat down.

"I've been collecting these since I gave Scootaloo up, and I've only decided to start reading them when you suggested the Daring Do series. I haven't finished reading them all yet" I sighed, relieved that the books were now out of the air.

"Mom is an old book hoarder" Scootaloo added.

"Collector" I corrected, "big difference."

"Do you mind if I take a few off your hooves?" Twilight asked, "I'd love to get a chance to read them."

"Yes, I DO mind" I growled.

"...Allllllright...can I come over and read them then?" Twilight wondered.

"...I...guess so..." I struggled, Twilight really did want to read them, but I also really didn't want to lend them to a pony who randomly drops books out of the air when she sees something shiny.

"Great!" Twilight grinned, "I'll drop by again tomorrow! In the meantime, I'll read that Daring Do book I came here for."

* * *

 _ **There are more words in this chapter than I thought there were going to be...I expected it to be in the four hundreds...above a thousand is shocking, considering the minor case of writer's block I had.**_


End file.
